Friday, 30 November 2012

Another news from Brazil, and in the same line as two days ago, the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) granted a Geographical Indication (GI) in the form of indication of source (Indicação de Procedência) to ‘biscoitos de São Tiago’.

The traditional biscuits are from the Region Campo das Vertentes in Minas Gerais and this application was made on August 23, 2011 (posted here). Request was made by the Associação São-Tiaguense (formed by 23 members) and aided by the Centre for Technological Innovation (NIT) from the Federal University of São João del Rei (UFSJ) and supported by the Foundation for Research and Support of Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG). The city became known for its biscuits that were offered to visitors on hostels farms and it is nowadays recognized as 'A Terra do Café com Biscoito' -- the tradition has extended and the city always holds a ‘Coffee with Biscuit Party’ early September receiving more that 50,000 visitors.

The applicants now have 60 days to pay the fee and a certificate will be issued, finishing the registration process.

Wednesday, 28 November 2012

From the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propiedad Industriale (INPI) we receive news that a service has been granted a Geographical Indication (GI).

On November 27th INPI announced granting GI to services to ‘Porto Digital’ (located in Recife, capital of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil). It becomes the first GI granted to a service in Brazil and now the representatives do have 60 days to pay the prescribed fee and a certificate will be issued, finishing the registration process.

The service entails the climate for innovation that is seen in Pernambuco. It involves the promotion of economic and social changes that institutions, companies, universities and government have been encouraging in the last decades. This has increased the income and employment in the fields of ‘IT and creative economy’.

In this regards, three issues may be brought:

GI for a service: The protection of GI is usually granted to goods/products (not only agricultural products but also handicraft). The Paris Convention, the Lisbon and Madrid Agreements as well as the TRIPS Agreement refer to ‘all products’. Majority of countries grant protection to products meaning only goods, tangible things. Here we notice that the scope of application of the Brazilian Law is more extensive than the scope of the EU system for example, as it applies to services as well. The word ‘product’ then refers as in its full meaning -- coming from the Latin prōductum (something). In fact, there are other countries that grant GI protection to services such as Azerbaijan, Croatia, and Singapore – and now we know that Brazil too.

Definition of GI: Now discussing the issue of what is a GI we notice that it identifies a particular product (in this case a service) as originating from a particular territory because of its quality, reputation and/or characteristic, in other words, its essence –intrinsic to the place. Now, for the information provided by INPI I do not see what makes this service dissimilar from any other project that encourages innovation. What do they have (i.e. characteristic/quality)? And thus, what is the link between the service and the place? The service has the say qualities/reputation because of its place of origin [I am afraid I do not see it]. The only matter that I could find was the actual statement made by ‘Porto Digital’ explaining that they are “ a technological development project that aggregates public investments, private initiative and universities, aiming at the domestic and foreign markets... comprises an innovation system”. This brings my third query.

GI to a non-geographical territory As perhaps you already spotted, ‘Porto Digital’ is not an actual name of a place. We are used to see geographical names as a GIs-- this is the tradition. However, non-geographical names can be protected as well if they are linked to a particular place – here will be to either Recife( city) or Pernambuco (state). A good example would be Feta as a GI for cheese. Porto Digital is (so it seems) a reputable centre for Information and Communication - it is a technology cluster as it is for example, the ‘Silicon valley’ (California for computer technology) and more appealing to me, ‘Antwerp’ (yep! The diamond centre). Now we have a new one to know of: ‘Proto Digital’ for services in the creative economy.

Wednesday, 14 November 2012

Yesterday morning we had an announcement from the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Indutrial (INPI)... the grant of a
Geographical Indication (GI) in the form of Indicação de Procedência (indication of Souce) to ‘renda irlandesa de Divina Pastora’ located in Sergipe.

The product is a ‘needle lace’ which is historically linked to Europe. However, its current form reflects the influences of its producers and so, its cultural traditions. The dynamics between the old (knowledge) and the new (world perspective) gives the ‘renda irlandesa de Divina Pastora’ its distinctiveness. ‘Renda irlandesa’ can have several uses from being part f a dress or just be a dress, to be used as a decoration for houses and ceremonies.

‘Renda irlandesa de Divina Pastora’ has already being recognised as a Brazilian cultural heritage and is also included in the ‘book of knowledge’. INPI informed that the producers have now 60 days to pay the correspondent fee and thus, finishing with the formalities of any GI application and registration. This is the first GI for Sergipe.

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

We received an invitation from Dr Valentina Vadi,a Marie Curie postdoctoral Fellow of the Faculty of Law at Maastricht Universit, for a conference on ‘Art and Heritage Disputes’ to be held at Maastricht University on 24-27 March 2013. The invitation is to everyone who is interested in participating, either presenting a paper or writing an article OR even both!

Abstract(up to 500 words)for consideration should be submitted by 1st December.

The publication reads as follows: “This Special Issue aims to identify, map and critically assess the number of art and heritage disputes which have arisen in the past decades. The return of cultural artifacts to their legitimate owners, the recovery of underwater cultural heritage, the governance of sites of outstanding and universal value, the protection and promotion of artistic expressions, and the protection of cultural sites in time of war are just some of the issues which have given rise to art and heritage related disputes.”